Annual salary survey shows effects of downturn

13 March 2009 min read

Global recruitment consultancy Robert Walters recently launched its
tenth annual Global Salary Survey, revealing the extent to which the
market downturn has defined business priorities and affected candidate
confidence across the local market.

Skills gap closes: employers able to select from larger pool of quality candidates

2008 was described as a year of two halves in the Australian marketplace with the cautious approach that defined the second half of the year set to persist well into 2009.

James Nicholson, MD, Robert Walters, Australia said:

“The Australian recruitment market has slowed but not as severely as many overseas markets such as the UK, Continental Europe and the USA.”

“Queensland and Western Australia are still more buoyant than other states however it is anticipated that these economies will slow in the short to medium term as areas such as property, resources and mining are hit heavily by falling commodity prices and the Asian and broader slowdown. The suggested ‘decoupling’ of Australia from broader world markets seems baseless and that slowdown in growth will have a knock on effect on employment markets in most sectors,” Nicholson continued.

Robert Walters has seen a rise in the use of temporary and ‘temporary to permanent’ staffing solutions across the board as companies benefit from the flexibility gained and seek to prove hires economically before committing to full time fixed headcount.

A degree of nervousness exists in the current market among professionals with increased hesitancy to change jobs by many workers. In some well publicised sectors there exists a mentality of ‘better the devil you know’. The continuity of ‘fallout’ and bad news has gained momentum and taken some previously well regarded organisations in its wake.

The sales, marketing and communications sector:

SYDNEY: Demand continued for business developers and key account managers. Marketers in demand with a proven track record in maximising spend and achieving solid ROI figures.

BRISBANE: Professionals within PR and corporate communications continue to be in demand despite the downturn.

MELBOURNE: Technical sales professionals still in demand in IT&T. Recruitment for non-revenue earning marketing roles expected to be slow in 2009.

Perth and Adelaide predications are available in the full copy of the report, downloaded from:

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